TD: Ireland must go extra mile to keep Greece in euro zone

The chairman of the Oireachtas EU affairs committee, Dominic Hannigan, has said Ireland will have to "go the extra mile" to keep Greece in the euro zone, even by backing concessions not on offer during the Irish bailout.

On a visit to Berlin Mr Hannigan, Labour TD for Meath East, said the “grave” situation in Greece could only be solved by going beyond party politics. That, he said, included setting aside domestic concerns that any EU concessions to Athens not secured by Dublin during its own bailout would boost support for the opposition, in particular Sinn Féin, in the run up to a general election.

“The issue is more fundamental than the survival of any political party here or at home,” he said. “This is about ensuring we have a stable euro zone, that citizens have security. We need to get a deal and I think we can explain to our citizens at home that this is in their interest.”

On board

Mr Hannigan and the committee members held talks yesterday with their counterparts in the

Bundestag

EU affairs committee and today meet members of the budgetary committee. In their meetings Mr Hannigan said his German colleagues appeared ready to keep Greece on board – but not at any price.

On another turbulent day in Greece, however, the relative market calm towards the rest of the euro zone was a mixed blessing. That investors see a risk of euro zone contagion as minimal complicates the case for further Greek assistance from the ESM bailout fund.

The EU’s permanent bailout fund is intended only to be tapped when the stability of the euro zone as a whole is in question.

“If not the ESM what then? That seems to be the question here,” said Mr Hannigan. “That is where politics comes in, though there would seem to be difficulty here within certain coalition partners in getting anything through parliament.”

Winning over Greek aid sceptics in the Bundestag will require a wider EU integration push, looking at issues of particular sensitivity to Ireland such as fiscal union and tax harmonisation.

Mr Hannigan said Ireland was willing to engage in building a more robust euro zone architecture, but added there were “other ways of squaring the circle” than giving ground on its national tax-setting competence.

“We have a strong case for retaining that as a national competence,” he said.